Saturday thoughts on funding: Where it helps. Where it doesn't. And how it affects team, success, and PM fit.
This is just my $0.02 after looking reviewing 30k+ early stage startups personally and having led 350+ investments across 2 VC firms & as an angel.
Let's begin! >>
1) Money is great to have in building a startup (for the least dilution and pain possible) That's true and always will be true. 😆
But just like how money can't buy you happiness, it also can't buy you PM fit.
2) PM fit is the holy grail for software startups. (we're not talking biotech - if you have a cure to cancer, I guarantee you everyone wants it).
But for software startups, it's unclear if ppl want your product at your price pt.
3) If you don't find PM fit, in this day and age, you will be able to get some sales. Maybe even say $1m in sales (or more!) per year, and you can still make a living.
But having sales does not mean that you have a repeatable customer acquisition process that can be sustainable
4) As an aside, that is why we invest at pre-seed & don't care about startup traction, because I don't believe traction at the earliest stages suggest PM fit. Traction only shows that a founder can execute (& that's impt too) but there are other ways to assess execution earlier.
